Rabbi Greg Schindler (’09) Archives | Academy for Jewish Religion

18 02, 2025

Parashat Mishpatim – 5785

By Marisa Amith|2025-02-20T14:34:44-05:00February 18, 2025|

Promises, Promises

A D’var Torah for Parashat Mishpatim

By Rabbi Greg Schindler (AJR ’09)

While last week’s Torah portion is so famous that they made a movie about it (something with Charlton Heston), this week’s parsha – Mishpatim or “Laws” – has a very different flavor. This week, we get – count ‘em – 53 different laws on a vast array of topics. They include the treatment of servants, betrothal of handmaidens, insults, injuries, theft, loans, false witnesses, bribery, return of lost animals, land usage, festivals and many more.

Then, after 80-something verses of laws, we get the following line

(Exod 23:18-20 ): https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.23.18-20?lang=bi&aliyot=0–

“I am going to send an angel before you to protect you on the way, and to bring you to the place that I have designated.”

Wait…what?!

You’re sending an angel before us? Where did that come from? It’s like reading the U.S. Federal Tax Code and coming across a line from Harry Potter.

Now that it has our attention, the Read More >

23 12, 2024

Parashat Mikeitz 5785

By Linda Ripps|2024-12-23T12:41:02-05:00December 23, 2024|

“The waiting is the hardest part Every day you see one more card You take it on faith, you take it to the heart The waiting is the hardest part.” - “The Waiting”, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

30 09, 2024

Parashat Ha’azinu – 5785

By Linda Ripps|2024-09-30T11:31:44-04:00September 30, 2024|

Calling G-d “The Rock” seems such a familiar expression that you might expect to see it a lot in the Torah. But it is not until this week, in Parashat Ha’azinu - at almost the end of the Torah - that we first hear G-d referred to as “The Rock”:

5 08, 2024

Parashat Devarim 5784

By Linda Ripps|2024-08-05T14:35:31-04:00August 5, 2024|

For Father’s Day this year, my children signed me up with a website called, Storyworth. Every week, they send me a prompt question (chosen by my daughter) to write about. At the end of the year, all the answers are assembled in a book. The first prompt question was, “What was it like learning to drive?” This is going to be easy, I thought.

17 06, 2024

Parashat Beha’alotekha 5784

By Linda Ripps|2024-06-17T10:55:24-04:00June 17, 2024|

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a prophet? To know things before they happened? This week’s parashah, Parashat Beha’alotekha, represents a master class in prophecy. Through a series of vignettes, the Torah provides insight into what it means to be a prophet.

In the first episode, several men come up to Moses and Aaron saying that they were unable to bring the Passover sacrifice because they were ritually unclean. Is there any way they can still participate (Num. 9:6-7)? All that Moses had learned from G-d was that the sacrifice was to be brought on the fourteenth day of the first month (Num. 9:5); there was nothing about what to do with people who were unable to participate at that time.

What should Moses do? Would he look weak if he admitted that he did not know the answer? Should he make his own interpretation?

What does Moses Read More >

26 03, 2024

Parashat Tzav 5784

By Linda Ripps|2024-03-26T10:28:21-04:00March 26, 2024|

Well everybody’s got a secret, son Something they just can’t face Some spend their whole lives trying to keep it They carry it with them every step that they take ‘till one day, they just cut it loose Cut it loose or let it drag ‘em down. Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town

23 01, 2024

Parashat Beshalah 5784

By Linda Ripps|2024-01-23T10:36:45-05:00January 23, 2024|

As Parashat Beshalah begins, the Israelites are soon trapped between the Sea and the oncoming Egyptian army. What will they do? Incredibly, Gandalf raises his magic staff and the Sea splits! Wait… I mean Moses.

15 11, 2023

Parashat Toledot 5784

By Linda Ripps|2023-11-15T12:23:15-05:00November 15, 2023|

“Stop making sense, stop making sense Stop making sense, making sense” -Talking Heads, Girlfriend is Better (1983)

6 09, 2023

Parashiyot Nitzavim-Vayeilekh 5783

By Linda Ripps|2023-09-06T09:33:14-04:00September 6, 2023|

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” -Inaugural Address of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (March 4, 1933)

24 07, 2023

Parashat Vaethanan 5783

By jackielebwohl|2023-08-10T15:34:49-04:00July 24, 2023|

This week’s Shabbat bears a special name, "Shabbat Nahamu” – the Shabbat of Comfort. Shabbat Nahamu comes on the heels of the saddest day on the Jewish calendar -- Tisha b’Av. This is the day on which both Temples were destroyed. Moreover, other catastrophes fell on this date – the day Bar Kokhba (the leader of the revolt against the Romans) was killed in 133 C.E., the day in 1290 when the Jews were expelled from England, the day in 1492 when the Jews were forced to convert or flee Spain. And, in 1914, the day on which World War I, and the horrors to follow, began. Tisha b’Av, the Rabbis say, is a day set aside for sorrows. And not only our national sorrows, but our personal ones as well. It makes you wonder why we don’t just curl up in a ball and stay under the covers every Tisha b’Av. But we don’t hide from our sadness; we re-live it. We sit on the ground, fast, recite Kinot (dirges) and read Eikha (Lamentations). We mourn. We embrace our sorrow. For it, too, is part of life.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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